Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

There's a meme going around my friends list:

The rules: Write yourself a dating ad.
1) It has to make you sound as unappealing as possible
2) It has to be honest - you can't lie at all
3) It can't sound as though you're deliberately making yourself sound unappealing.

Several of my friends have posted theirs. And my reaction keeps being some variation of "I'd answer that, if I had any room for another relationship." "Some variation" because, for example, the delightful livredor specified a willingness to relocate. Even some of the ones that haven't prompted that reaction have left me wondering why this counts as unappealing. But that's because I don't think in terms of dating or personal ads: with one friend, my reaction was that it was probably fair warning about relationships, but if I didn't already know her, I'd want to.

So while I'm not going to try to sweep all you delightful women off your feet, singly or collectively, I am glad to have you as my friends.

Note: I will probably be over-generalizing here. My actual experiences are limited to the United States, and mostly to New York City.

This morning, brisingamen posted about being interested in exercising, but having no idea of what to expect at a gym, never having been inside one, and unsure about everything from suitable clothing onward.

I gave my default reassuring answer, that one can wear either loose-fitting long pants (yoga pants or sweat pants or such) or shorts, a t-shirt, and shoes (preferably sneakers or running shoes). And then I was thinking about it while at the gym today. I exercise in a pair of shorts and a combination sports bra/top that covers about the necessary minimum, but I not only have little body shyness, I overheat easily. Quite a few women wear variations on that exercise top, again with the built-in bra but not showing the midriff. Tank tops are fairly common, as well. At the other extreme, I once saw an Orthodox Jewish man working on the weight machines, with a trainer. He was wearing basically his street clothes minus the suit jacket and the large hat. The only requirements, at my gym, are "a top and a bottom," with no exposure of nipples or genitalia, and shoes that are safe for the exercise you're doing. That's sneakers or equivalent, except in yoga classes, which are done barefoot. For swimming, the requirement is a swimsuit and a bathing cap.

Also, I go to a gym that is mostly for exercising, rather than socializing--I'll see people talking to each other in the locker room before or after exercising, or groups of two or three friends working out together, but there isn't a juice bar or other "sit around and hang out place" attached to it. That may affect the interactions: even the people whose main goal is to look good (rather than, say, to run a marathon, improve their endurance, or reduce the risk of a heart attack) mostly aren't there to impress the other people at the gym.

Another thing to remember, if you're an adult at a gym/health club is that you can leave at any time, and what exercises you do is your choice. I don't take the "spin classes" (organized exercise bicycle stuff), but I overhear some of the trainers running them yelling at the people exercising. That would deter me even if an hour of stationary cycling appealed, but this isn't high school and nobody is going to pressure me to take those classes, let alone threaten me if I decide not to.

I discovered that I actively enjoy weight-lifting (both with machines and some free weights), so that's what I do. I like it enough that, on my last visit to Montreal, I mentioned to rysmiel that I was missing the gym, and that this stuff can be addictive. That got me a smile and "good"—my friends who have no desire to do this stuff themselves can generally tell that it's good for me, physically and mentally. The latter is true because I've found my right exercise (or one of my right exercises--there may be others out there that would work for me as well), not because weight-lifting is the One True Path to health.

One of the reasons I picked the gym I did, when I started, is that they didn't require me to sign up for a year or more—I'm on a month-to-month membership, which was appealing when I had no idea if this was something I'd want to continue. I don't know how common that is, but it might be worth looking for, if you're new to this but interested.

Many gyms will offer cheap or free trial memberships, enough to get a feeling for the place, both whether they have the equipment or classes you want, and whether the atmosphere suits you. I like the weight room where I work out, not much conversation beyond the occasional "can I work in here?" and "Are you using that handle?"

This is also a gym numbers post. I think I'm mostly over the whatever-it-is that I've been sick with. Antihistamines may have helped, which leads to the hypothesis that it's allergies instead of, or after, a virus. Nonetheless, I did a shorter and lighter workout than usual: fewer kinds of exercise, and fewer repetitions or less weight on most of the ones I did.

( Read more... )

Then I went down to Chinatown for lunch and unexciting craft supplies, and the Village for Assam tea and spices. At McNulty's, after he got me my half-pound of the Golden Assam tea, the man asked if there was anything else, and I said no thanks, this is about all I drink these days. That's a half-truth: it's the main tea I drink, but it's also the only thing I get there because everything else they carry, I can get elsewhere for significantly less. There was a tour group at Aphrodisia, but they were well-behaved (I think it was a walking tour of the Village, mostly New Yorkers, rather than a group that will be doing everything together for several days) and didn't get in the way of my purchase of basil and Madras curry (it smelled good).